Constructing a new world. Featuring commentary and reviews on games and their systems.

I like the concept of Soulbinding items. It introduces a system of decay into a game which otherwise would have none. You find an upgrade to your equipment, the old one must be discarded or otherwise salvaged (disenchanted, sold for vendor coin, etc.). This keeps crafters in business crafting new items and it keeps farmers in business farming materials for the crafters.

However, it also seems like a massive waste. It also raises the question of what vendors do with all this vendored gear they buy that they most certainly can't sell or even wear themselves. Are they all enchanters? What do they do with those enchanting mats anyways, since they never have any for sale?

I had an idea for recycling old stuff. When gear is created, it is created as a white quality item every single time, regardless of the design. Enchanters can then enchant the gear to make it more powerful, up to a certain point. Until it is enchanted, it doesn't bind. The enchanter's magic, as a natural consequence of the magic itself, will automatically bind the item to the soul of the next person who wears or wields it in combat. If a player no longer has use of an item, they have some options. First, they can have an enchanter strip the enchantments off an item for a fee and sell the item enchantless (at which point they could use the materials, which would of course be reduced, to enchant something else). Second, they could have a Salvager deconstruct the item into its base components (minus some "waste") and sell the materials or make something else. Third, they could have the Enchanter unbind the item from their soul. This would cause the item to lose some of the potency of its enchants and become a second hand item and then sold.

I haven't decided if multiple characters per account would be a good idea, but if it were used, a second (or possibly third or fourth)hand item could be taken and have a special enchantment placed on it to turn it into an heirloom. The enchants would be set at a certain level and maybe given an heirloom only perk or two and be allowed to be left to another character on the account, or possibly given to guild members or something.

It's good to have a system which encourages trade and gathering, but second hand items could also have their own market in their own right and I think it may be worth exploring.

My next post will be about professions. I think I have a good preliminary system started that I'm working on.

I've been thinking about something I posted about a while ago. I like the idea of characters being able to ascend to Godhood.

The lore of the world I am building is as follows: There is a cosmic war going on between the races that the Gods belong to and the demons they are fighting. The worlds belonging to the gods serve a number of purposes for this end. Some are breeding grounds for soldiers. Some are training grounds for those soldiers. Some are schools for tacticians. Some are staging grounds for troop movements and assaults. Some are headquarters for the brass.

The world this game is set on is a recharge world for the goddess who has created it. For each world created, the one who creates it must expend a portion of their own essence for use as the raw material to construct it. They can also lose bits of themselves fighting and creating new troops for the war. This necessitates recharging ones self so as to not fade away to nothing. The mortal races of the world live, they die, and then their souls fuse with their creator, invigorating them with new strength.

The players of course belong to a separate group, the Chosen. They are exempt from being required to fuse with their world's god as they have shown potential for being able to have a much more positive impact on the cosmic situation as free beings. Their efforts can keep the world going, or possibly more. So when they die, they are allowed to be returned to life and continue on with their struggles.

As players play, try, and occasionally fail and resurrect, they become stronger. As they become stronger, they get closer and closer to Godhood as they learn new abilities and come to a greater understanding of the true underlying nature of existence.

So when they get powerful enough, I like the idea of letting players become gods, at which point they can leave the original world and go off to explore other worlds. Or if they wish, they can create their own worlds to rule over, creating their own races of mortals or immortals (or both). They could choose which side of the conflict they wish to be a part of or if they wish, they can choose their own side as new factions in the war with their own agendas.

It starts out as Everquest and slowly evolves into a sort of Spore/Civilization/Minecraft style game.